2008 Annual Report IICA's Contribution to the Development Of
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2008 Annual Report IICA’s Contribution to the Development of Agriculture and Rural Communities in the Americas XXXIXth Regular Session of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) © Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA). 2009 ISBN 978-92-9039-998-8 IICA encourages the fair use of this document. Proper citation is requested. This publication is also available in electronic (PDF) format from IICA’s Web site at http:// www.iica.int ii Table of Contents Foreword……………………………………………………………………...………............. 1 The legacy of an agricultural leader: Tribute to Jose Emilio Araujo, Director General of IICA, from 1970 to 1982………………………………………………...……………………. 3 Executive Summary…………………….……………………………...……………………... 5 1. Origin, legal basis, structure and purposes………………..……...………………………. 9 2. Implementation of resolutions and mandates……………..………………………………. 10 2.1 Summit of the Americas Process ……………………….………...………………….. 10 2.2 Governing Bodies of IICA ………………………..…………………...……………... 11 2.3 Promoting women’s rights and gender equity and equality ………………………….. 13 3. Technical Cooperation ………………………………………………...……………......... 15 3.1 Implementing the hemispheric agenda………………………………..……………... 15 3.2 Implementing the regional agendas…………………………………………...……… 31 Andean Region…..………………………………………………………………….… 31 Caribbean Region...………………………………………………………………..….. 33 Central Region.……………………………………………………………….………. 35 Northern Region.……………………………………………………………….….….. 37 Southern Region…………………………………………..…………………………... 38 3.3 Implementing the national agendas………………………………………………….. 41 Antigua & Barbuda…………………………………………………………………. 41 Argentina……………………………………………………………………………… 42 Bahamas………………………………………………………………………………. 43 Barbados……………………………………………………………………………… 44 Belize…………………………………………………………………………………. 45 Bolivia………………………………………………………………………………… 46 Brazil………………………………………………………………………………….. 48 Canada………………………………………………………………………………... 49 Chile…………………………………………………………………………………... 50 Colombia……………………………………………………………………………… 51 Costa Rica…………………………………………………………………………….. 54 Dominica……………………………………………………………………………… 56 Dominican Republic……………………………………….......…………………….. 57 Ecuador……………………………………………………………………………….. 58 iii El Salvador………………………………………………………………………….… 62 Grenada……………………………………………………………………………….. 64 Guatemala…………………………………………………………………………….. 65 Guyana………………………………………………………………………………... 67 Haiti…………………………………………………………………………………… 68 Honduras……………………………………………………………………………… 70 Jamaica………………………………………………………………………………... 71 Mexico………………………………………………………………………………... 73 Nicaragua……………………………………………………………………………... 74 Panama………………………………………………………………………………... 76 Paraguay………………………………………………………………………………. 77 Peru…………………………………………………………………………………… 79 Saint Kitts and Nevis…………………..……………………………………………... 80 Saint. Vincent and the Grenadines ………………………….………………………. 81 Saint Lucia……………………………………………………………………………. 82 Suriname…………………………………………………………..………………….. 84 Trinidad & Tobago…………………………………...……………………………….. 86 United States of America……………………………………………………………... 87 Uruguay……………………………………………………………………………….. 89 Venezuela……………………………………………………………………………... 91 4. Relations with strategic partners………………………………………...………………... 94 5. Information on financial capital …………………………….……………………………. 97 6. Information on human capital……………………………….……………………………. 99 7. Major meetings………………………………………………...…………………………. 100 Acronyms……………………………………………….…………………………………….. 105 iv Foreword In 2008, agriculture worldwide witnessed two important developments that reinforced IICA’s commitment to promoting food security in the hemisphere and its insistence on the importance of the sector for the development of our nations. The first development was the publication, during the first quarter of the year, of the World Bank’s World Development Report 2008, “Agriculture for Development.” Among other things, the report demonstrates that agriculture has a strategically important role to play in reducing poverty at the global level and that public and private actors need to take urgent, practical steps to ensure that our peoples enjoy greater prosperity. The second development, which occurred from mid-year onward, concerned the highly volatile prices of some agricultural commodities. Many international agencies and governments warned of the problems that could ensue, responded rapidly to calls for action from agricultural producers and revised their medium-term plans to ensure that people had enough to eat. Against this backdrop, IICA continued to carry out its activities in line with the institutional priorities and overarching objectives established in its 2006-2010 Medium-Term Plan, which include the promotion of food security, agricultural development and environmental sustainability. As this latest annual report shows, the Institute intensified its efforts in the area of food security, especially by galvanizing support from other stakeholders and through its activities under programs and projects of strategic importance to its Member States. IICA’s technical cooperation model - based on work programs agreed with the different public and private actors in the countries and the Institute’s close working relationship with government agencies, academia, producers’ organizations, chambers of commerce and cooperation agencies - is reflected in this wide-ranging report containing details of the most significant results achieved at the hemispheric, regional, national levels. This report also includes information about the Institute’s role as a partner in the Summit of the Americas process, the decisions taken by our governing bodies in 2008, the actions implemented to carry out the mandate of promoting women’s rights and gender equality, and our human and financial capital. We feel honored to pay tribute in this report to Dr. Emilio Araujo, a citizen of Brazil of great human stature. As Director General of IICA between 1970 and 1982, he took important decisions that reshaped IICA and had an impact on the societies we serve. The Institute, still imbued with Dr. Araujo’s values and teachings, continues to implement the modernization process that got under way in 2002. Once it is completed, IICA will be better equipped to deal with the increasingly complex problems of agriculture and offer innovative solutions. 1 An example of such solutions is the recently inaugurated Center for Leadership in Agriculture. It has been one of our greatest accomplishments in 2008 and has made it possible and has made it possible to bring together, in the course of the year, dozens of young people, decision-makers and senior officials from our Member States to discuss and reflect on the situation and outlook for agriculture and rural life. Other technical cooperation actions carried out by IICA in hundreds of rural territories, in fields such as agribusiness, health, agro-tourism, organic agriculture, agro-industry and agro-energy, are clear examples of the desire for change, the search for excellence and the promotion of new leadership in agriculture in our countries. At the broader level, we will continue to promote the need to adopt a new development model that recognizes agriculture as the linchpin of national development agendas, as a sector of strategic importance for reducing poverty and as a means of livelihood for thousands of farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs in the Americas. IICA’s personnel are committed to finding and implementing innovative solutions to achieve development that is more equitable by tapping opportunities and implementing measures to offset the now acknowledged limitations of the global market. Given the abundance of information available, we need to be able to recognize and generate the knowledge required to modernize the institutional framework of agriculture, make agriculture competitive, promote food security and guarantee sustainable development in harmony with the environment. To this end, we shall exploit to the fullest our collective skills. This, added to the team effort in which we have been engaged with other international organizations and the permanent dialogue with our Member States, will continue to be a source of inspiration and will be a positive step for those who foresee difficult times ahead. In the respective 2008 report on each IICA region and member country, and on our website (www.iica.int), additional, more detailed information is available on the state of agriculture, the Institute’s response to the commitments assumed under our cooperation agendas and the opportunities for future collaboration. Chelston W.D. Brathwaite Director General 2 The legacy of an agricultural leader Tribute to Jose Emilio Araujo, Director General of IICA from 1970 to 1982 A few short months have elapsed since the passing of Dr. Jose Emilio Araujo, Director Emeritus of IICA, and it is only fitting that we pay tribute to his long legacy of accomplishments in the field of agriculture throughout the hemisphere and his endearing qualities as a humanist leader. Our Director General, Chelston Brathwaite, had something to say at a recent Cabinet meeting, which encapsulates our esteem and appreciation for Dr. Araujo: “there are no words or writings to aptly describe the magnitude of Dr. Araujo’s contributions to agriculture in the Americas and to IICA.” The General Directorate of IICA wishes to extend this recognition and appreciation to the international and national partner institutions of IICA which, like this humanist leader, have struggled to forge a new destiny for those who live in the rural areas of the Americas and depend on agriculture